Posted on 04/16/2002 1:36:13 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, P.C.
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
3233 P Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20007-2756
(202) 342-6980 · FAX (202) 342-6984For more information contact:
Stephen Kohn or David Colapinto: 202-342-6980
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LINDA TRIPP ALLOWED TO PURSUE PRIVACY ACT LAWSUIT
ALLEGING JOB HUNT WAS SABOTAGED BY ILLEGAL LEAKS
Washington, D.C. , April 16, 2002 – A federal court has ruled that Linda R. Tripp can pursue additional Privacy Act claims against the Department of Defense. In a written opinion issued on March 30, 2002, but just published yesterday, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan denied motions filed by the Bush administration urging dismissal of the second of three Privacy Act law suits filed by Mrs. Tripp. [www.dcd.uscourts.gov/district-court-recent.html]
In her second Privacy Act lawsuit, filed on January 25, 2001, Mrs. Tripp alleged that on the eve of her interview for a federal job in January 2001 at the George Marshall Center in Germany, Defense Dept. officials leaked confidential information about Mrs. Tripp’s job application in an effort to smear her and sabotage her employment.
The leaks concerning Mrs. Tripp’s job application to the Marshall Center was disclosed by the Defense Department to its own publications Stars & Stripes and the Early Bird and occurred just days before former President Clinton left office.
Unidentified DOD officials leaked news of Mrs. Tripp’s interview which resulted in banner headlines appearing in the January 23, 2001 European edition of the Star’s and Stripes newspaper. The Stars and Stripes reported DOD’s improper disclosure of the date of Mrs. Tripp’s interview, the specific position Linda Tripp had applied for at the Marshall Center, the fact that she was one of the four candidates for the position, and that she was willing to accept a position at a lower grade and a pay cut.
The Bush administration has vigorously opposed Mrs. Tripp’s lawsuit despite that federal law requires the identities and qualifications of applicants for federal government jobs to be kept private and confidential.
In its opinion denying the Bush administration’s effort to dismiss Mrs. Tripp’s complaint, the court ruled that Mrs. Tripp may pursue allegations that DOD illegally disclosed information about:
- Her application for employment with the DOD’s Marshall Center in January 2001.
- The termination of Mrs. Tripp’s government employment in January 2001.
- Her government travel and leave in January, 2001.
- Her job performance, time and attendance and leave and other confidential details about her and her DOD employment to both Representative James P. Moran, Jr. and the Washington Post in early 2000.
In addition, the court ruled that Mrs. Tripp may pursue allegations that DOD committed other Privacy Act violations by failing to:
- make reasonable efforts to assure that records concerning Mrs. Tripp were accurate, complete and timely.
- establish appropriate administrative, technical and physical safeguards to insure the security and confidentiality of records concerning Mrs. Tripp.
- make an official accounting of disclosures of confidential information about Mrs. Tripp by DoD to third parties.
"It is illegal for the government to require Linda Tripp to compete for federal jobs in a fishbowl," said David K. Colapinto, one of Mrs. Tripp’s attorneys.
"These leaks are shameful. They are designed to humiliate and embarrass Mrs. Tripp. They are designed to render her jobless and bankrupt," Colapinto added.
"The way the government has treated Linda Tripp after she became a whistleblower is nothing short of horrific," said Stephen Kohn, another of Mrs. Tripp’s attorneys.
"She was under a legal duty to document and disclose illegal conduct committed by former President Clinton. Mrs. Tripp’s work performance was consistently rated as outstanding before she blew the whistle. However, her attempt to obtain employment, even at a lower grade and lower salary, was undermined by officials in the DOD," Kohn said.
In the lawsuit Mrs. Tripp alleges the Clinton administration targeted her as part of a smear campaign in order to save Mr. Clinton’s presidency. "Anything that could be done to injure Mrs. Tripp’s reputation was unleashed once it became evident that her testimony could bring down a president," her attorneys said.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration has done nothing to hold anyone accountable for violating Mrs. Tripp’s rights, and it has vigorously fought Mrs. Tripp in court.
Last year, in Mrs. Tripp’s first lawsuit, Judge Sullivan ruled that she may pursue her Privacy Act claims against DoD alleging that Pentagon officials illegally disclosed information to the media from her confidential security clearance file and her personnel files in 1998.
In addition, Mrs. Tripp has filed a third lawsuit against the federal government alleging that Pentagon leaks in 1998 also violated the Federal Tort Claims Act, which is also underway.
Mrs. Tripp is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She vows to continue to pursue justice in all three of her pending Privacy Act cases.
# end #
More info on Linda Tripp's fight against Clinton's abuses here: http://www.lindatripp.com
As said to Lawyer J. Nobel Dagget,
"How nice."
I hope and pray for her full recovery, in health and in court.
Thank you Linda ... you're an inspiration to alot of would-be whistleblowers.
I hope Linda wins everyone of these suits and get her job, backpay and allowences plus large punitive amounts to boot.
I can't understand why President Bush hasn't done something to rectify Linda's situation.
Then again I can't understand his support for illegals, additional foreign aid and CFR either.
Is there anyway that Linda could be persuaded to show up at the PATRIOTS rally this coming Saturday in DC?
Doesn't it seem like the clintons are holding a figurative gun to GWB's head? Like maybe, they know the skeletons in Bush Sr.'s closet... Iran-Contra, etc.
GWB seems, at times, to be more committed to protecting the clintons than he does to his own beliefs. I've felt for a long time, that possibly, if/when Poppy dies, then all of a sudden all hell would break loose for the clintons (indictment-wise) because then, they would have no way to blackmail GWB/Ashcroft. They will, however always have the FBI files on Congress.
...Not long ago -The Enemy Within- ..HILLARY CLINTON.. had LINDA TRIPP in her sights and now with ABC-NBC-CBS-PBS-CNN News on her side ..HILLARY CLINTON.. is focusing in on President BUSH in -Time of War-.
A Free Press that does not fulfill its duty to inform -We the People- of "Just the Facts, Ma'am"...
...will soon lose its Right to do so.
NEVER FORGET
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